A Play of Shadows on the Wall
by Jysrin
Summary: Like every other week, a visitor comes to Equestria, but this time, nopony know who or what it is. The Mane 6, as usual, are stuck taking care of the problem, and hey, is that Discord over there? Why does he look so afraid, and what's it got to do with our visitor?
1. Chapter 1: I Guess It's a Prologue

Alright everyone, it's time for a new story.  
It's actually just a rewrite and continuation of the first two chapters of **Ones Shots, One Offs, and Randomness Galore**.  
No pre-reading is necessary.

Disclaimer: I don't own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, I'm not Hasbro, nor am I the Hub... I wouldn't want to own it anyways, too much work.

* * *

The **VOID**. The space between worlds, that which binds and separates them from each other. Within its paradoxical depths lay the Worlds themselves, branching and twisting from the Ether, some branches connecting to other Worlds, others collapsing back into the central sphere. It is within this space that a single being travels; a serpentine form of twisting shadows with almond-shaped, glowing white eyes, the beast was orbited by smaller trails of shadows, its anterior end containing two rear facing streamers as well. It opened its shadowy maw, the interior also glowing white, and released an echoing wail that reverberated through its surroundings. A sudden shift in the background energy currents shook the beast, the Shade, violently tearing it off course and sending it into an uncontrolled tumble, straight at one of the branches of a World known only by its central focusing planet: Equus(1).

* * *

February 6, Year 1005 ANM(2)

Inside the Branch, on a tiny insignificant speck of dust orbited closely by both a moon and a tiny star, one Spirit of Chaos looked at the sky and shuddered. The draconequus knew that something was headed towards his universe, and that something would bring with it a massive disturbance, and not the good kind either.

* * *

Back in the **VOID**, the Shade, disoriented as it was, managed to lock onto a massive source of chaos magic* inside the Branch, and quickly summoned what power it could to tear open a portal to that single area. The creature slipped inside the portal, immediately screeching in pain as the portal stripped away many of its extra-dimensions and converting it into a mere Three Dimensional creature. As the conversion happened, another mass of dark energy roiled around the VOID, not far from the shade itself. Locking on, the newcomer, resembling what us humans call Cthulhu, sped towards the serpent and spread its maw in anticipation of the meal to come. As the serpent finished its portal, it noticed the Cthulhoid silhouette rushing in its direction and panicked, leaping into its almost complete portal. Due to the nature of the VOID and the portal, though the serpent managed to flee successfully, the portal destabilized and sent it flying much farther than it had planned to; the extra distance now draining its power substantially.

* * *

March 3, Year 1005 ANM

Almost five years prior, one lavender unicorn and her five friends had restored Luna, Princess of the Night, from her madness. Four years previous, the six had defeated and imprisoned Discord after he had escaped from his stone prison. Three and half years previous, they drove away the Queen of the Changelings and her swarm. Three years ago, the Dark King Sombra was destroyed at the hooves of of the Alicorn of Love and Princess of the Crystal Empire, Cadance, with the aid of the six once again. Two years and ten months back and Discord was reformed. A month later, Twilight Sparkle, unicorn, became Princess Twilight Sparkle, Alicorn of Friendship. Two and a half years ago, the Everfree forest attacked Ponyville and the Elements of Harmony were lost to the Tree of Harmony. Two and a half years ago, while everypony was gallivanting around in the deeper Everfree, nopony noticed the slow beginnings of a distortion form, one that surely would have made their eyes burn from its mere existence. As it was, the distortion, only a few minutes away from Fluttershy's cottage and just off the path to Zecora's hut in the forest, left an empty, desolate clearing where it formed, the animals running away and the plant life just withering and rotting away.

Two and a half years of peace and the occasional minor conflict later, and that brings us back to March 3, Year 1005 ANM. Over the course of that time, the Distortion had become a perfectly spherical, paradoxical hole in the world, shimmering with black emptiness and casting shadows of colors unimaginable to all physical beings. If any sentient being were to look at the hole, they would have gone mad, quite possibly melting their brains. For the most part, the portal seemed peaceful, but, at exactly 3:33:33 p.m., the portal pulsed with an audible reaction that could only be transcribed as an echoing blast of pressure(3)_. _It pulsed twice again in rapid succession, and another trio of pulses every thirty three seconds. After thirty three pulses, the portal started pulsing with a vastly increased frequency, one every three seconds, as massive bolts blasted out of the -now glowing- surface, sizzling through the air and frying the ground in the clearing, sending billowing smoke clouds into the air.

* * *

Over in Ponyville's olden Oaks Library, the residence of Princess Twilight herself, Spike belched out a massive burst of green fire and smoke, which quickly coalesced into a letter bearing the seal of both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Spike's eyes widened as he sprinted from his bedroom.

"TWILIGHT! You have a letter from the Princesses!"

* * *

A/N:

So, this is my first real story. Feel fee to point out anything I can do to improve, any errors, things I should do more of, etc.  
This chapter is really all about background and exposition, the next chapters should be better.  
I need practice writing dialogue.

*The Everfree forest's weird natural magics and the propensity for Fanfiction writers to tear open space-time portals there and deposit any number of random things; me included in said bunch of authors 

(1) Lots of stories used this name, and I thought it was a good idea

(2) After Nightmare Moon, lots of stories also use this

(3) To be honest it'd sound kinda like the Inception noise or something, I don't know, you make up your own sound for it


	2. Chapter 2: In Which Nothing Much Happens

Alright everyone, new chapter!

Alright then... let's begin...

* * *

"TWILIGHT! You have a letter from the Princesses!"

"Twilight! Hello?...Huh...guess she's not here..."

As Spike realized that Twilight was not, in fact, in the Library, he found his eyes wandering to the door, where he found a note simply reading:

"Spike:

Went out to the lake with the girls.

Make sure to re-shelve the books and pick up some new quills.

-Twilight"

Spike sighed in frustration and palmed his face, muttering a quick, "Why me?" he ran out the door and headed over to the only lake Twilight would normally go to: the swimming hole, just northeast of Fluttershy's cottage*. Sprinting as fast as he could, he made for an odd sight as he rushed through town, occasionally bumping into various ponies on his way across town.

(*You know, the one in Too Many Pinkie Pies)

* * *

While Spike was causing a minor bit of chaos in town, Twilight and her friends (and Discord) were by the lake, indulging in various activities including swimming, reading, eating, talking, and just plain having fun. Discord, however, seemed nervous, glancing in a southern direction every few minutes, and being surprisingly well behaved. When Fluttershy noticed his mood and commented on it, his only reply was, "I-I don't know w-what you're talking about... haha... see...eh...? I'm perfectly fine, see?" and he made a small cotton-candy-clouds-and-chocolate-milk-rain storm over Pinkie Pie's head, to her delight and the others' momentary surprise. Also noticing Discord's discomfort, Twilight stood up and walked over.

"Discord, you seem down, is something wrong?"

Frowning, Discord bit back, "Of course not _your highness_, I'm perfectly fine, _thankyouverymuch._"

Sensing his irritation, Twilight began to walk back to the rest of the group, only to turn in surprise and fear at a sudden _ripple _emanating from the south. Steeling her nerves as best as she could, Twilight stammered, "I-is t-that w-what you were-e so nervo-ous about?"

Discord snarked back with a "Well what do _you_ think, _princess_?"

At that very moment, came a faint pattering sound, slowly increasing in sound, from the west.

"TWILIGHT! You have a letter from the Princesses!"

Oh, so that's what it was.

Spike blasted into the clearing, tripped over a random rabbit hole, went flying through the air- "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH–" Sploosh- and into the lake, the letter in his claw still curiously dry. Twilight raced over to where Spike was wading back onto the beach, the others close behind. As they approached, Twilight gripped the letter with her magic and broke open the seal. As she read, Rainbow Dash flew over and, hovering behind Twilight's shoulder, asked, "So what does it say, Twilight? Do the Princesses need us for anything? Do we need to fight a dragon again-" Fluttershy gasped "- maybe a manticore? C'mon Twilight! Tell us!" Sighing at her friend's impatience, Twilight addressed the group, "Alright girls, the Princesses have sensed a disturbance, and want the six of us to go check it out and see if we can find anything. This may have something to do with the disturbance I felt earlier, since it also came from the Everfree Forest's edge."

Rarity frowned, "Why is it always the Everfree Forest? Why can't all these strange happenings ever happen closer to Ponyville?"

Twilight ignored the question and began pacing, "Alright girls, we need to find out just what is causing this disturbance, and if necessary, fight it. Fluttershy, the disturbance came from near your cottage, so we need to check there first and evacuate your animals-" "A-alright" "- Applejack, you and Rainbow Dash are going to need to pack supplies, just incase the source of the disturbance is hostile-" "Alrighty then, c'mon RD we need to git packin'!" "You got it princess!" "- Rarity, go with Fluttershy and help her with the evacuation-" "Of course, darling" "-Pinkie and Spike, and Discord too I guess, you come with me; we're going to head to the library to find some spells that might help out."

Tasks firmly in mind, the six ponies, one draconequus, and one baby dragon split up. Before everypony left ear shot, Twilight called out, "Everypony meet at Fluttershy's when you're done, we'll head into the Forest together!"

* * *

With Applejack and Rainbow Dash:

"Ya think mah rope's gon' do us any good, RD?" "Eh, couldn't hurt to try, I guess"

"Hey, Rainbow Dash, ya think maybe I should brin' some apples?" "I don't think that'll work AJ" "Who knows, maybe it'll be hungry?" "That's dumb" "Yer dumb, RD" "Wh- hey! you take that back! I am not dumb!" "Ah'd like to see ya make me, RD."

The two ponies, for no good reason, began to brawl on the ground right after Applejack's retort. Thankfully, it was over soon after, and they immediately went back to packing after a few exchanged apologies.

* * *

With Rarity and Fluttershy, things were going much smoother, many of the animals at Fluttershy's cottage had left already, not being permanent residents, and the rest had already felt the pulses of wild magic, and as soon as Rarity and Fluttershy released them, bolted off into the Whitetail woods in the opposite direction of the disturbance.

"Well, now, that was quite a bit easier than I thought it'd be, don't you think Fluttershy?"

"O-oh, not really, they were frightened and just wanted to get away, so they ran. Poor dears..."

The cottage was now in need of tidying due to all the animals running away. The pair of mares looked around at Fluttershy's disheveled house and promptly decided to start tidying up, and make some snacks for the others.

* * *

At the Golden Oaks Library, the odd quartet were (figuratively) tearing the librarian princess's private spell collection to pieces, searching for any spell that might be even remotely useful. Unfortunately, due to the twin sources of chaos in the room, research was understandably slow going.

"Pinkie! Put down my telescope!" "Sorry-" CRASH! "- oops..." "PINKIE PIE!"

"Discord! Stop making cotton candy clouds and start looking for something useful!" "Of _course_, princess, _whatever_ you say" "...Oh just keep looking, you."

After approximately an hour and a half of searching, Twilight let out a loud "AHA!" of triumph.

"This is the Temporal Bubble Net spell, an advanced binding spell that produces a small bubble outside of our normal dimension that traps anything caught inside when it's first formed." "Uh, Twi, you've never been able to pull that off before, y'know that right?" "I know, Spike, but last time I wasn't a Princess. now was I?" "I guess not"

Taking the trip to Fluttershy's cottage to study the scroll, the quartet left the Library, making sure to lock the door and flip the sign to 'closed'. As the four walked, Twilight spoke, "Spike, I want you to stay back at Fluttershy's cottage while we go look for the disturbance, alright?" "What!? Why?" "I don't want you to get hurt, Spike, you know that" "*sigh* Oh fine, I'll stay behind"

Nodding at Spike's acceptance, Twilight began casting another spell she had memorized, the Triangulation spell. She had cast the first half at the Library, coming up with the rough heading of West by Southwest. As she cast the second half of the spell, this time near the Schoolhouse, the reading remained much the same, but a mental marker gave her the exact coordinates of the disturbance.

"Alright everypony, let's get to Fluttershy's cottage!"


End file.
